The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1887-02-10

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As FARMERS. AND As WIVES FOR FOREIGN
ERS.
Cores >pondence of the Journal
MENICo, Jan. 1881. Long before the ap-
pearance of Darwin'> sclective theory, Her
| bert Spencer admirably remarked: 1.-The say
ing that beauty is but Skin-,lcep is in itself
but -hin-decp saying The beauty of a race
is 10 be considered for other things than mere
| 1y pleasing the eve. and there can be no doubt
that the most successful nations of the earth
owe much of the physical and mental strength
| that made them SO to their handsome and we'll
| formed mothers.
| On first arrivin. here from the North
| (where a really ugly woman is the ror" oris, J
ones first impression is that of intense di>ap-
! pointmcnt, 50 far female beauty is concern
el and belief that 1.-THE dark-eyed daughters
| of Old Ca>tilc." of whom we have heard SO
| much. are al! dead as the daughters of Mon
tezlma TO our idea there can be little beauty
| in>cpalable from color and graceful contour.
| The brilliant complexion and fine figure of an
! English woman strike every bcholder: the
| xpirjt"oNc expression and finely chi>clled fca-
soft moonlight: while Il French woman. how
ever plain her face may be, has graceful a
manner of saying agreeable things, 50 charm
ing tr"r""r@ and riquant way of managing
her eyes and mouth, that we think her a beauty
after bal All hours acquaintance.
| In McXiro it is only by degrees that hand
some faces begin to dawn upon Us. The beauty
Of these women consists in superb black eyes.
Nerl fine dark hair. small feet. and prcttily-
shaped hands and arms. Their chief defects
are that they are Frequently short and fat al
most invariably hcn" mountains of flesh at
foryl; their teeth are often hai-partlv. no
donFt. because there are few GOOD dentists i'll
McNirn.-and their compleNionS are neither
the clear olive of the >paniarl, nor the glow
in@ brown of the Italian. but 4 muddy. bilious
locking yellow. Worse than all this. their
re>> sing is cNccrahr. and (from lack of cor>ct>.
or some defect il nature or the nso,1iSte, their
figures have usually IN ndc>rribably slouching
look--thc gracelc>> contour Of "a meal bag
tied in the middle" Their notion Of >,I.lcezin
ii" foot into & shoe half IN inch too short, and
always with AN crroneou>ly high heel directly
under the il>lrp. soon ruins the foot and ,c>-
truys all grace of carriage
The fall>one>t women III Mc>iro are not
found ut The cat;l. hni as iii Spain. it i sail
that none Of the beauties Of Madrid were born
there,-thc ta! and graceful bellies here, dis
lin-ui>hcd for clear rompIcNioii> AMI lii" teeth
| come from iaana. Vera cruz. Rcrhla and
Guadalalara.
Among the lower classes. however. one "c-
rt>"nally sees a face and figure 80 lovely that
We may suppose Just such another was Donna
Marina. tortcz tnchantrc>>. with hair and
eyes OF extraordinary beauty. teeth like pearls,
romi,l, Mon dark but glowing. tiny bare feet
and hands and arms whose exquisite shape
neither sun nor toll can inurc. In these rare
cases it is more than likely that. though Indian
iii appearance. there were intcrnarra@c~ in
f"rr'r DAYS between her pro=rnitor> and de-
>rrndHnt~ of the Spanish conqllpror>.
some of Tie finest looking omen in Mexico.
both in form and feature. are found anon. the
civilized lndiali>. While Mexican ladies Of high
caste Ii,' III luxurious ease, seldom walkin" 1T
| all-and nt forty-yr are >hriycllp.l. ,crrcpid
and useless. the Aztec females COW ng to out
door life and iaborioll> habits are strong and
active at seventy Wears nf ace. True. they
wrinkle at mi,''llt-Iilc. and their faces at fifty
Resemble dried li-~. hut that i HE ncyi-
table effect of tropical winds ana early matur-
y. There i no country in the world where
according To population. 50 much animal food
and fat i consumed. and more where less is
needed. The consumers are not thr Indians.
who cannot afford il. but the higher classes.
VIII" generally eat meat three times a day.
Doubtless tlc earl ly-faiin- beauty Of uri>to-
cratic HcFir"no<. their oNcr-corpulcncy, de
| rayrI teeth and muddy skins. are the result Of
injurious foo! and Insufficient exercise; while
the quantity Of grease. chill and >wectmeat> :
consumed. in a climate W hrh is naturally irri-
tatin- and hllammatory. helps to bring on
those ruinot>. nervous complaints that here
are general.
We sometimes meet extremely handsome
H"Arh"fd"S Nh" wives and daughters of
farmers possibly riIing on mule behind
the ''hirc,i man hose superb figures and
teeth like the SHOWS Of u,raba are preserved
until long past middle age by the constant cN-
erri>c Which country women must take per
force. whatever may he their natural indo-
lcncc. A. class. these Hanchcrita> are vir-
tuonS. Industrious and in all respects superior
to the p@"hS (>erf>l brcal>c-thouyh obliged
to labor lEremittn-iy. often ,loin. The work
of oxen in the iied-they are working for
| MemS~irrS. instead Of for Il master who will
monopolizc the proceeds.
II will be remembered that when Cortcz and
| the succeeding yirc-kny> began to restore the
| ruined city OF Teno>htitln-to clear out the
ca'ia'-. repair th" ancient cau>eway> and erect
| new city on the site OF the old-thcv forced
| the captive Indians to do all this labor So
cruel anl cohtemptiblc was the avarce of the
| >l'anlard> that they not only compelled the
| people whom they had robbed to do all the
manual labor Of building homes for the usurp-
er out Of the ruins of their own. but they alb
| >olutc'y refused to furnish any food for the
| victims. Therefore the wives and daug ghterS
| OF these unfortunateS (mo>t of whom had been
! reared in a1uencc, according to Aztec ideas, J
were obliged to till the land> and earn food to
| sustain all Who laborcd for the vcc-rcgal Gov
crnmcnt, both in the city and the mines The
ami Crown, and of suffering inflicted upon the
| Indians by the more than barbarol,S tyranny
| of the conIuerors will never be known: but to
| such an unparalleled extent was the oppression
carried that at last the Pope was obliged to is
| sue decree. to the effect that the conquered
| -\ztec> We're REALLY and truly men,
| The eminent abb Clavi.ero, who resided
| forty years in the provinces of New SPAIN
| aS the country was then called, and wrote the
| history Of Mexico at that period. said of the
| thirty millions Of conquered AztccS: ''Thcy
are of GOOD stature, generally exceeding mid
| die size. well proportioned in all their limbs.
| good complexion, black eyes. firm white teeth.
thick glossy black hair. Their skin is Of an
| olive color. and there is scarcely Il nation on
| earth where there are fewer dcformcd persons
1t would be more difficult to find single
huml-harkcd, lame or squint-eycd man among
a thousand McNicals than among hundred
| of any other nation. Among the
| young women are many very beautiful whose
| loveinc>s is rendered more winning by the
sweetness of their manners and natural mod
esty. The Europeans never did less credit to
| their own reason than when they doubted that
| of the Americans. The state of Civilization
among the MeNicanS when they were first
known to the Spaniards was much superior to
| that of the Spaniards themselves when they
We're first known to the PhoenicianS, that of